CHINA FACTORY DATA LIFTS PSEI

PHILIPPINE shares rallied on Tuesday after two straight trading days in the red after China announced that its manufacturing sector rebounded in March.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 3.7 percent or 190.07 points to close at 5,321.23, while the wider All Shares increased by 2.97 percent or 93.46 points to end at 3,237.77.

The last time the main index reached this level was on March 16, when it ended at 5,335.37.

First Grade Finance Inc. Managing Director Astro del Castillo attributed the stock market’s positive performance to China’s manufacturing sector bouncing back last month.

The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) issued by the Chinese statistics bureau and the official China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing rose to 52 in March from February’s record low of 35.7 on a 100-point scale, on which numbers above 50 show an increase in activity.

The March figure comes as authorities relaxed anti- disease controls and allowed factories to reopen. It also comes as China’s ruling Communist Party is trying to revive its economy after declaring victory over the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) — which first emerged in the city of Wuhan in the country’s Hubei province in December — even as the United States and other governments shut down businesses to try to contain it.

Del Castillo also credited the government’s earlier statement that “science is in charge” in setting the parameters on whether the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine would be lifted or extended as having helped lift investor sentiment.

Philstocks Financial Inc. agreed, saying in a market comment that “the unexpected expansion in China’s March…PMI data from 35.7 to 52.0 and the cues from Wall Street sent the local bourse, together with most of its regional peers, higher.”